“Just because you see something doesn’t mean it’s really there”

This is one of those sad, beautiful books that will stick with you — definitely one of the better YA novels I’ve read this year.

“Susie: Okay, Calvin. But you know what? You can’t say, youcan’texpectanythingfrommeI’mbroken! And turn around the next minute and say, ohwoeismeeverybodytreatsmelikeI’mbroken! Which one is it? I can treat you the way I really feel, or I can treat you careful.
Me: Real. Just be real.”

As a kid, I loved the Calvin & Hobbes series. My best friend had all of the comic book collections, and I would borrow them over and over to read through them. Calvin was so brave and funny and imaginative. I could never love Calvin the way that the star of Martine Leavitt’s novel though: he was born on the same day that the last Calvin & Hobbes comic strip was published. He also had a stuffed tiger as a kid, and his best friend growing up was named Susie. But now he’s in high school, the stuffed tiger dissolved years ago in the wash, and Susie doesn’t hang out with him anymore.

At the start of the novel, Calvin is diagnosed with schizophrenia after he starts seeing and hearing Hobbes the tiger. He somehow convinces himself that he goes to see Bill Watterson, and ask him to write one more comic in which Calvin turns out okay as an adult, without Hobbes. This trip involves walking across a frozen lake in the middle of winter. In an attempt to keep him from killing himself, Susie decides to come along, too — although Calvin isn’t 100% sure that she’s not just as imaginary as Hobbes.

While I think some aspects of Calvin’s personality and diagnosis get a little glossed over in favor of focusing on his feelings for Susie (like, the book could have used another 50-100 pages of fleshing out Calvin as a person), I still really enjoyed it. Their trek over the ice totally stressed me out, and had me terrified of the ending. It also made me want to reread all those comics again…